Yer Botherin' Me...

For anyone who’s ever taken high school French, you should know that ‘Sorry to bother you’ translates to :  ‘Désolé de vous déranger.’

Yes, you might notice ‘déranger’ holds a mighty close resemblance to the English word ‘deranged’.  I don’t know about you but when I think of the word ‘deranged’, I see a wild psychopathic look in someone’s eye, hair on end, and perhaps a bit of saliva escaping the corner of one’s mouth.--Which isn’t a far cry off from what happens when you ‘bother’ a French person enough.

Because, in my experience, the French are very easily annoyed. 

The first sign that you are annoying a French person:  The long, loud, drawn out sigh or ‘huff’.  I hear this one whenever the lines in the post office, grocery store, bank, or social security offices are moving too slow.  Which they always are.

Next there are the small actions one can commit that fall into annoyance territory:

Ex: cutting in line, talking too loud,  bumping into someone with your grocery cart, double parking, ignoring the ‘priorité’ when driving, taking too long in public bathrooms, holding up the line more than usual in the places mentioned above, banging on walls after 10pm, not recycling your trash, leaving the community garage door open, etc…

(If you are part of a home-owners association, the lists of things you’re not allowed to do because they fall into the ‘annoying’ category is never ending.)

So all of the above could very easily earn you a quick, but sometimes brutal ‘you are annoying me’ phrase from a Frenchman or woman

What’s fascinating is that the French have more ways of saying what essentially translates to ‘you’re bothering me’ than I can count, and they range from the polite to the downright vulgar.  Here are just the ones I’ve learned so far:

C’est pénible:  That’s trying

C’est fatigant:  That’s tiresome

Ça me fait chier:  That makes me shit

C’est soûlant:  It fills up to maximum capacity (Soûler is also the word for ‘drunk’) or ‘You’re making my  head spin- and not in a good way.  But in a ‘I’m so drunk I’m gonna puke’ way’.
Ça me gave :  That’s stuffing me

Ça me gonfle:  That’s inflating me or making me 'swell'

Ça me tape sur les nerfs :  It’s hitting on my nerves

Ça m’enerve :  pretty much same as above

Ça me casse les pieds :  That breaks my feet (yeah, I don’t get it either)

Ça me casse les couilles :  It breaks my balls (and yes, they do mean those balls)

Ça m’emmerde : It puts me in shit (noticing a trend here ?)

And still others:

C’est embêtant- That’s troublesome

C’est agaçant- That’s annoying

C’est chiant – That’s shitty annoying

Hope you enjoyed your Friday French Lesson:)  You may now close your notebooks and get ready for third period.  Stop snapping gum Candyland.  Matthew Rush, your desk is a disaster.  Jessica, for the thousanth time no doodling! and Vicki!  If I catch you passing notes to Stina again...:)

Go forth my fine people and be….annoyed:)

Have a great weekend!

*CQG*